Condemned Innocent
by MsKMJ
Summary: Five years ago, Isabella Swan was convicted for the murder of international pop star Tanya Sophia. Edward Cullen, Tanya's ex, and Bella's love believed she had murdered Tanya. This is a story of choosing between Revenge or Forgiveness.
1. Chapter 1: Freedom

**Protecting the Innocent Swan**

Revenge or Forgiveness?

Is the question we must ask?

Is it worth hurting yourself over for?

Is it worth turning your heart black with anger and hatred?

To cry yourself to sleep

To dream of waking up to guns and officers

To see her face again

Laughing at how pathetic you look

To scream as they grab you again

Just like last time

Then to wake up

And realize that you're home and safe

Five years in prison for a crime I didn't commit

Two days after he admitted that he killed her

A day after I was released

An hour after I fell asleep in the plane

The dream starts

I wake up

I look outside

I see the rain, clouds, fog, and stars for the first time in five years

I am home

Revenge or Forgiveness?

I must decide before it tears me apart

His name was James Hunter. His mistress was Victoria Daniels. Their victim was Tanya Sophia De la Luna, known more as Sophia, lead singer from the internationally known band 123 Wonderland. Her ex-boyfriend's name was Edward Cullen, singer of another band, Sunrise Strikes, which he led with his own family. Both bands led the music industry into new heights. They combined where worth billions.

But Edward Cullen was the only one who attracted me to Sunrise Strikes.

He fell in love with me and Tanya hated me for it. She blamed me for their relationship falling apart, she blamed me for the affairs she had with countless men, and she went far enough to stage her own death.

She visited me the day before they found her body. It was funny how I was in Paris, the city of love, yet everything and everyone I loved fell apart on that very day.

She scratched my arms, and little did I know then that my DNA ended up embedded under her fingernail.

She screamed and said that I would pay. And I did.

The case literally built itself up. My DNA under her fingernails convinced the jury that I was guilty.

My name is Isabella Swan. And I was convicted for a crime I did not commit.

He finally admitted it. Of course, after a little persuasion from my step brother Seth Quiletera and his best friend Jacob Black.

As soon as the detectives received the new information, everything fit. Why she was stabbed, why she was chained up. According to James Hunter she had paid him to stage her death. And she had promised five million dollars. Her plan was to pretend to die, than kidnap Edward and take him to her private island off the coast of Brazil where they were going to fall in love and be happy forever. I was going to be framed for her death and live in jail for the rest of my life.

The latter did happen, except that James confessed and I was going to be set free after five years of prison.

She had promised him money yet she didn't deliver. Victoria was dying of stage three leukemia and needed money for hospital treatment. He snapped and killed her.

The trial itself was a nightmare. Press everywhere and people who wanted to kill me. I remember my nights in prison like yesterday, since yesterday I was in prison.

My roommate inmate was Angela Webber who was also being released because they finally found who killed her husband Tyler Jameson. She too had been framed, except that she was framed by her husband's mistress Lauren Crowley.

It was funny how bonded we became. She was my best friend, and lived in L.A. I lived in San Francisco but I was going to stay in her house when I was set free. She had given me her keys and told me that L.A. was magical and it was a place for new beginnings. I wasn't sure at first since L.A. was Hollywood but she convinced me that I would have a week before she was released to clean up her home, buy groceries, and help her settle in.

It made sense. We had both been in jail for the same amount of time and understood the horrors yet hope that existed in that place.

She was on a trip with her husband Tyler when his mistress killed him. Of course Angela found the body and there was so much blood on her hands that the police just assumed it was her. Prison in France was not very welcoming to American's. The only comforting sight was the city from a small barred window in the prison.

I learned French quickly and learned to survive.

But my family and friends were no help. My parents, Charlie and Renee had split years before everything happened. Renee was living happily with her new husband Phil in Italy.

Charlie had remarried Sue, who already had two kids, Leah and Seth.

Charlie Swan was the CEO of Swan Corporation, the leading military and medical supplier in the world.

He cut off all ties after the verdict was decided and cut off my assets.

I used to live in a world where appearances were everything.

A place where you had to be perfect, or else you were banished forever.

I learned Self Defense at the age of ten, a black belt in Karate at age fifteen, and a Master Belt in Karate at the age of seventeen, the same year I was convicted for the murder of Tanya.

I knew how to defend myself, and the ladies in the prison learned that quickly.

Yet after every fight, every injury nothing hurt more than Charlie's betrayal and Edward condemning eyes.

I saw him at the trial. The glare he gave me spoke a million words. He hated me; our love was never real, just him trying to find a normal life in such a public life.

He might as well have stabbed me then and there.

I spent two years mourning over it, until I woke up. I was in prison for the rest of my life. I might as well make it something.

I paid Jessica, a fellow inmate who made the most beautiful tattoos and was in prison for prostituting, to tattoo '"It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one."' On my back, ironically it was a quote by Voltaire one of the greatest French authors and philosophers.

The tattoo was a masterpiece. Around the quote wove a beautiful rose and vines that spread through my back and down my arms curling around both wrists, except the right one curled around to form a key.

Then I paid her for another tattoo on my hip of a white swan.

It was the only permanent reminder of the betrayal of my family and the one I loved.

The dismissal of charges, I did not know of, until they whisked me away and put me on a plane heading for London. Then from London to New York, then from New York to Los Angeles.

Watching the stars and the sky for the first time in five years was magical. I had to constantly remind myself to speak in English and not French.

But the one moment when fear set in was when the flight landed. It was a passenger plane, so people stared when I got on and when I got off. They knew my face from the press I assumed.

I walked through the small tunnel leading me towards the security point. The man's eyes widened when he saw who I was, but he said nothing. The next man who checked my bag, which was only filled with a few pieces of clothing Angela had made, didn't seem surprised. He had been warned.

People stared as another police officer put me in his cruiser in a private parking space and led me towards the exit of LAX.

All I could see were police cars and on a barricade around hundreds of cameras and paparazzi.

For the first time in five years I felt the sun on my skin.


	2. Chapter 2: Hatred

Chapter 2

I'd only been in Los Angeles once. And I had not seen this area of town. Angela obviously forgot to mention that she was rich. But then again someone who goes on business trips to Paris has to have a large amount of money.

I had told the officers to drop me off in the address Angela had given me. They apparently had been told to drop me off in Swan Inc. but I was too happy to be free to be angry and upset today, and my father would make me upset.

If I wasn't perfect he would deny the fact that I was his daughter. That's the type of man he is.

My mother on the other hand was bipolar. She had been diagnosed after she had me. She immediately divorced my father and gone off with Phil.

I think this is what hardened my father's heart. Before then he had been the kindest man. After that he looked at me like I was to blame for all his problems.

I had to be perfect. That was the Swan motto.

Angela's house was in the area of Beverly Hills. It was a light brown mansion with huge columns on the sides. It looked like it had been based of the Greek Acropolis with a mixture of Victorian influence.

It had a certain charm.

The officers left me at the front gate. Angela had told me to press a code into a small box on the left side, covered with vines. I found the box and entered the code. Two seconds later the huge gates opened.

The drive way was leading me up into a fountain that ran along a circle. I could see gardens surrounding the house and trees full of mangos, bananas, pomegranates, apples, and other fruits. On the ground were vegetables and grapes wrapping themselves around the gates and fences surrounding the house.

Someone was there waiting for me. An old lady wearing a maid's outfit, her hair was gray with streaks of brown and she had kind eyes.

"Well Miss Swan, we are excited to have you here! Lady Angela and her friend Alice have been expecting you. Of course Lady Angela is still in France for another week, she will be here soon!"

"I'm sorry but who's Alice?" I couldn't put a finger on her name but I felt as if I should know her.

"Oh my dear, she is waiting inside at the kitchen. She said you would be hungry." She then led me inside through a back door that led to a small room with food and ovens, then to a kitchen where on the counter a small pixie was sitting.

I stopped. I knew her. She was his sister… Edward's sister.

I started to walk back outside.

She seemed to expect that. "Wait Bella! Let me explain! I knew you were innocent. None of my family thought you were guilty except Edward! I'm so sorry! Angela was already there and we both have a fashion line together and I told her to keep me posted on how you were! I'm so sorry! I know you were there for four years but believe me I never thought they would think you were guilty!"

"I can-n-not do this! I prefer facing my father to this! I have to go!" I shouted. I just couldn't stand the sight of her. Here she was trying to say she was trying to protect me when I spent four years in a foreign prison for a crime I did not commit. I just couldn't stand this type of hypocrisy. I started to run back outside towards the gardens.

"Wait Bella!" she screamed.

I didn't know where I was going. My tears blinded me and it was a miracle I didn't fall.

I somehow found the drive way and started to run down towards the gate. Another car was coming in but it stopped as soon as I was right in front of it. I didn't have the time to process that it was a black Volvo. I started to run around it and suddenly the driver's door opened. And I ran right into him.

It was strange that after four years the electricity still ran through my body… I could still smell his light lavender, freesia, and vanilla smell. He was still the same height but more built. I could feel the hard muscles even through his coat.

I didn't notice that his arms wrapped around me and held me to him. I was in too much of a shock.

I snapped out of it when he took a deep breath and smelled my hair. His voice shook me to my very core.

"After all this time you still smell like strawberries…" his deep velvet voice whispered.

Flashes of our previous life together went through me.

He bumped into me at the bookstore, looking like some thief in a black hoodie and dark glasses. My shock then anger. Me punching him afterwards. Then meeting him again at my favorite restaurant; now knowing who he really was, The Edward Cullen. Then at the restaurant him ruining a date with my co-worker Mike Newton. My running away from him afterwards then him trying to stop me. Then the paparazzi chasing us until he pushed me into his car and drove me to his house. He forced me to stay there for a day. Then for dinner he fed me strawberries telling me that when I first bumped into him that was the first thing his mind told him… that I smelled like strawberries. Us in Paris a month later, his arms around me, and we were eating strawberries. Then the image that ruined the beautiful thoughts was the one form the court house. His glare. His hatred. And in that moment my soul shattered, and the moment was broken.

I pushed him away from me.

His hands tried to cup my face but I stepped away from him. His face looked at me in shock.

His green, emerald eyes held confusion.

"I Hate You." The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. I didn't even realize the words I was saying until I saw them in his eyes.

He stepped away from me almost stumbling. His eyes held pain.

"Four years… And it's your entire fault. If I had never met you, Tanya would've never hurt me and I would be happy probably with Mike Newton married. I was in jail for four years. I never went outside. I never felt the sun in my face for four years. I didn't even know I was leaving until they put me on that plane. I hate you."

He looked at me like I had stabbed him. I felt the river of tears fall from my eyes all the way down my neck. I was still wearing the sweat pants and black t-shirt I had been arrested in four years ago. It was the only belongings I had in that jail.

He was paralyzed. He didn't stop me when I walked around him and down Beverly Hills. I eventually spotted a cab. Luckily I had just enough money to tell the man to drive me downtown. To Swan Inc.

I had no other place to go. I could sleep in the streets if my father made me walk out of his office.

Knowing him our fight would end in an argument and I would have to find somewhere to sleep outside.

I hoped that for once my father didn't argue with me because I was tired. Physically and emotionally. I didn't want to fight anymore. I want to fall on a soft bed and just rest and hopefully never wake up again.


	3. Chapter 3: Broken

**Before we get started check out this amazing story: **

**Living With A Dead Girl by idon'tedit : .net/s/7544206/1/Living_With_a_Dead_Girl**

**And enjoy! Sorry it took me so long! Happy Thanksgiving!**

Chapter 3

Seeing the building of Swan Inc. reminded me of my wealth. I wasn't worth thousands or a few millions. I was worth billions. It was easy to forget when you are stuck in a foreign prison for four years.

Before I stepped into hell you have to first realize who my father is.

Charlie Swan owned Swan Corporation or Inc. the largest and leading military and medical supplier in the world.

He started out as a Sheriff in a small town called Forks. I could faintly remember our moments in the woods camping, and our moments in the shooting range. They were the only happy moments I could remember.

My mother was never a constant presence in my life. My father tried, but I remember him starting out just as a small weapons producer and having no time for me. Eventually during my teens his company grew into a billion dollar corporation. The saying went that if you didn't buy Swan you got none at all.

He remarried eventually to a wonderful woman named Sue Clearwater. She already had her two kids, Seth and Leah from a previous marriage. Their father had died of a heart attack only two years before their wedding. It was the last happy moment I could recall.

After that, I started college in Dartmouth and eventually I transferred to Stanford. Seth went to college with me, he was a little genius. Leah went to Berkeley instead. We got along, eventually. The biggest challenge had been getting close to Leah who I eventually learned was suffering from an extreme broken heart.

I guess I now knew how she felt.

Sue had been the only motherly presence I had ever had in my life. I bonded with her instantly. Her kind eyes and gentle ways made me fall in love with her.

Leah, Seth, and Sue had been the only ones helping me during my years in prison.

It really says something when your own flesh and blood don't even try to help. My father distanced himself from the entire situation. And no one knew, only after my release, that I was his daughter.

Driving through Sunset Blvd. and through the clubs and buildings, I realized how much I had missed my life. I kept my window down finally feeling the wind blowing in my face for the first time in four years. I had missed it more than anything.

The freedom of the wind was something I was jealous of. If only I could too be everywhere I wanted with absolute freedom.

It was my only desire; to be free and to stay free forever.

But that's life. We never get what we truly want. We only get parts of it.

Finally we reached the building. It was the highest building in Downtown Los Angeles. It stood heavenward like a dark beacon.

Even I could never stop marveling in the beauty of the structure.

The courtyard was a garden with busy businessmen and women living their lives.

I paid the nice cab driver and started to get out of the car.

"Hey, miss!" he called out.

I turned towards the elderly man.

"Be careful. That place is full of cowards and thieves." He finished.

I smiled. "I know, unfortunately I'm related to one of them."

The cab driver laughed and wished me good luck.

I felt small walking through the tall canopy of trees and vines. Men and Women with suitcases and stern looks passed me by without giving me a second glance.

I looked at their designer suites and realized I was only wearing a black shirt and sweatpants. If there was a time to be self-conscious it was now.

I made my way towards the front desk.

"May I help you?" A woman with a name tag 'Bennie,' asked without looking up from her computer.

"I'm looking for my father."

"And his name is?" she asked briskly.

"Charlie Swan." With that she looked up in shock.

"Oh Miss Swan! Yes your father has been waiting for you to arrive! Please come this way! Tyler! Escort Miss Swan to her father's office!"

The man that came up had a soft dark complexion.

"This way Miss Swan." He led me towards the elevators and pressed the button 200. "Your father will be informed of your arrival. Good Day." He left me there alone in the elevator.

It took about seven minutes to reach the 200th floor.

The entire time I couldn't help but bite my nails, which had turned to nubs after my day.

With my encounter with…. He Who Must Not Be Named and Angela's betrayal I was feeling sad and depressed. Right now all I wanted was to be with the people I love.

When the elevators opened I was blinded by the flash of a camera.

"WELCOME BACK BELLA!"

Everyone shouted. I looked around to find everyone I loved here. Seth ran to hug me, and so did Jacob. Sue gave me a hug then. Jacob's father was also here. So was everyone I knew from La Push.

My heart contracted and I started to cry. Leah of course led me to the other room so I could recuperate from the shock.

"It's okay baby… you're okay..." she whispered.

It took me a while to get under control.

When I did Leah gave me a big hug.

"I missed you!" she said, her voice muffled by my hair. She pulled back from the embrace and looked at me with excitement.

"I have one more surprise for you!" She led me to another room.

I looked around to find an entire makeover team. A large banner on the top read 'Bella's Makeover Team.'

I looked back and Leah and she gave me a devious smile.

"I think it's time for you to become the new you!" I smiled, and agreed. I was a new me, so a makeover was appropriate. Leah was shocked by the lack of anger or resistance but she eagerly accepted it.

It was time to meet the new me.

My father was standing right outside the door leading to his office.

"You look pale." That was all he said to me.

I just stared back. My father seemed to have aged ten years. His brown hair had turned gray. He had frown lines in the corner of his mouth and crow's feet in his eyes.

"You look old." I replied.

He smiled.

"So how does it feel to abandon your only daughter?" I asked, not masking the hatred in my voice.

My father's face turned to stone.

"I did what I had to do."

"Yeah, I hope you can live with it." I could feel my throat tighten but I swore that I was not going to cry.

"Isabel-"

"It's Bella, Charlie!" I snapped, my anger turning into rage.

"That's it get out! Get out of this building! Get out of my life! Get out before I called security!"

I looked at him in shock. Tears spilled over.

"Get out!" He screamed again.

I couldn't think. My own father… I didn't want to think. This was my lowest point. I had finally hit rock bottom. After all this time of feeling… it just shut off. I was numb.

I turned around with my head held up high and walked towards the elevator.

I stared at myself for over a hundred floors and I could see in my eyes that I had died. Finally after all this time I was truly broken and I wasn't sure I could be repaired.

I ended up in a familiar place. I remember walking by five years ago during a charity event. It was a small orphanage that I had donated to, at what seems a life time ago.

The girls all ranged from new born to young adults. Many of them stayed and helped out after becoming an adult.

And I realized I had nowhere else to go.

Victoria Hunter and her husband James Hunter have run the orphanage for around twenty years now. She was a close friend who I had lost contact with after being in prison.

We both graduated Stanford at the same time and she decided to dedicate her life to orphaned girls. I had always admired her courage and commitment to others and her generosity.

They had a daughter named Bree and last I heard she was dating her first love Riley Bears.

I knew I was going to intrude on their family and their lives… and all I could do was hope that Victoria was the same woman I had met long ago.

The building looked like a large mansion. The interior was decorated like a French Ballroom, but the rest of the orphanage was very modern and pristine.

As soon as I saw Victoria I burst into tears. She rushed me inside and I told her all that had happened. I told her about prison and all the horrible things I had been through there.

She told me I could stay for as long as I wished and to never hesitate to ask for anything. Bree was now engaged to Riley and was set to wed in five months. I promised Victoria my help with the wedding which she accepted graciously.

Every day I worked with the young girls. I was their Language Arts teacher, since my major was English Literature. The girls loved hearing stories and Romeo and Juliet became a favorite.

Time passed and the wedding was just one month away, and I felt happy and peaceful.

I just hoped I could stay that way.

[6 months later]

The wedding took place in the ballroom. It was beautiful and simple, according to Bree's taste. We had become close during these months and we trusted each other immediately.

She was around my height and we looked alike. She did not have her mother's red hair or James's blond hair. She had brown hair and brown eyes, looking like neither of them.

I hadn't heard from Angela or Alice since I last saw He-who-will-still-remain-unnamed.

I would be lying if I said I felt normal, because I didn't. I felt hallow. Like an empty tree.

I was sitting outside in the gardens, reading Wuthering Heights. It was peaceful and the Los Angeles sky was a soft gray.

At least until I saw a familiar face framed with short honey brown hair.

Angela.

**Small cliffe. Charlie really is something isn't he! Anyways don't forget!**

**Review**


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